In the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout there are some dishes that people there would probably literally kill for. MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus has recreated one of them and tasted it.
What kind of dish is it? The perfectly preserved cake is a rare and special delicacy in Fallout. It is a remnant from the time before the Great War – a piece of food from a time when everything was still fine and the entire world was not radiated.
In real life, the perfectly preserved cake is a variation of American cheesecake with a strawberry-cinnamon sauce and salted caramel buttercream.
Why are you even doing this? On the one hand, I am a big fan of Fallout and after Destiny 2 recently released a cookbook, I recently bought the official Fallout cookbook. On the other hand, before I turned to studying and working here at MeinMMO, I started a culinary apprenticeship (although I did not complete it).
Since I have a natural curiosity about good food and new recipes, I wanted to try cooking a few dishes from Fallout. The perfectly preserved cake, being possibly the most well-known item, immediately caught my eye.
Perfectly Preserved Cake – Recipe and Assessment
What does the cake taste like? The most important thing up front: The cake tastes really good, even if it is not a culinary revelation. Despite relatively high sugar content, it is not too sweet, and the strawberries and salted caramel complement the creamy cake with very interesting and subtle notes.
I served the cake to myself and four friends, all of whom were enthusiastic (and who otherwise have nothing to do with Fallout). Even a friend who does not like cheesecake praised the taste.
However, one piece is quite powerful due to the high fat content, even if it tastes rather “light”, similar to a cream cake. One piece is fine, I would not recommend more than two, as it is heavy on the stomach. Together, we only managed to eat it over the course of the day.
Is it hard to make? Although the official book states the difficulty as “difficult”, no one should be deterred by this. You should not be a complete beginner, but the cake does not require overly complex processes or much experience. I would say: Anyone who would consider themselves “advanced” should have no problems with the recipe.
Instead, there are port-a-diners in the world that you can use. These are automated robotic arms that dispense desserts. The only edible food in them is, however, the cake.
You need a decent amount of luck to even get the cake – literally. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. value “Luck”, for instance, in Fallout 76 determines, according to a certain formula, whether you get the cake.
According to this, with a luck of 10, you only have a 50% chance of getting the cake after 26 attempts. To guarantee getting the cake, you need to use the machine over 140 times, depending on your luck.
You Need These Ingredients
The cake consists of three components: Cake, sauce, and buttercream. For clarity, I have listed everything separately, as you have to prepare them separately anyway. I will provide the official recipes from the book here. Further down in the article, you will find some tips and notes from my experience for a better overall result.
- Rosenthal, Victoria (Author)
*Affiliate-Links. Wir erhalten bei einem Kauf eine kleine Provision von Amazon. Vielen Dank für Eure Unterstützung!
For the cake itself, you need:
- 70 g sour cream
- half a vanilla bean
- 500 g cream cheese (room temperature)
- 185 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 120 g sour cream
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
You also need:
- a springform pan (about 24 cm)
- aluminum foil
- a hand mixer or a food processor
- a flexible rubber or silicone spatula
- a pastry bag with a star tip
While you gather and process the ingredients, you should already preheat the oven to 135° C (fan mode).
How to Prepare the Cake
- Cut the vanilla bean open and scrape out the seeds. Put the seeds and the pod in a bowl with the sour cream and set aside.
- Mix the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Gradually combine it with the sugar and then with the eggs. Be careful not to incorporate air into the mixture. You don’t want any air bubbles.
- Remove the vanilla pod from the sour cream and add it together with the sour cream, salt, cornstarch, and vanilla extract into the mixture. Blend it and be careful again not to incorporate air.
- Wrap the springform pan with aluminum foil and line it with parchment paper. Then grease it. TIP: You can skip this step if you instead fill a baking tray with hot water and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Then also ignore the next step. You can read more about this in the tips further down.
- Pour the mixture into the pan and tap it firmly on the work surface several times to remove any trapped air pockets. Place the pan on a deep baking tray and fill it with hot water until it stands about halfway up the pan.
- Bake the cake for about an hour. Be careful not to let it darken, it should remain pale. When the batter has set, turn off the oven and let the cake rest in there for another hour.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. Then place it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
How to Prepare the Sauce and Buttercream
You can already prepare the sauce while the cake is baking. It is best to make the buttercream right before serving, as it does not take long.
For the strawberry sauce, you need:
- 1 kg strawberries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 185 g sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
Puree the strawberries thoroughly and strain them through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Add the cinnamon stick and bring the puree to a boil over medium heat. Lower the temperature and add the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix cornstarch with water. After cooking, remove the cinnamon stick from the sauce and stir the starch mixture into the sauce. Remove the pot from the heat and let everything cool. Refrigerate the sauce with the cake for at least 2 hours or overnight.
For the buttercream, you need:
- 250 g unsalted butter (soft, at room temperature)
- 120 ml caramel sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- half a tablespoon vanilla extract (not listed)
- 240-480 g powdered sugar
Beat the butter until smooth and lighter, then add vanilla, salt, and caramel. Mix everything thoroughly. Then gradually add powdered sugar until you reach the desired sweetness and consistency.
How to Serve the Cake
Once you have all the components together, cut the cake into eight pieces and place one on a plate. Drizzle it with strawberry sauce so that the front half is covered and some runs over.
Fill the buttercream into the pastry bag and pipe a rosette on the back, wider part of the cake – do not hesitate to be a bit generous. But remember, this is not cream, even if it looks like it.
Tips and Tricks for Easier Success
The taste of the actual cake is somewhat monotonous despite the vanilla and only becomes really good with the sauce and cream. If you want to enhance this, mix in lemon or lime zest in the batter or refine it with rum flavor.
Instead of wrapping the springform in aluminum foil and placing it in a water bath, you can let water evaporate on a baking tray in the oven. Fill this directly onto the baking tray or in a large pan and place this under the cake in the oven. The important thing is that the mixture must cook in the steam and not in dry heat, otherwise, the cake will not stay moist.
For the sauce, you do not need a full kilogram of strawberries. For me, 500 g were sufficient, and there was still too much sauce left over. If you have fresh, ripe strawberries, you can also skip the sugar. If you have no strawberries, other fruits of your choice work as well, preferably berries (raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries).
The buttercream is also very generously measured. It’s best to estimate how much you really need yourself. For powdered sugar, I was satisfied with 200 g already. You probably do not need the full 480 g.
For the measurements in tablespoons and teaspoons, I used American measurements (“table” and “tea spoons”). These are specific units that you can buy in the form of spoons on a ring if you want. However, regular tea and tablespoons work just as well.
Craving Cake? Here’s More
If you want to impress your friends with more recipes, if the perfectly preserved cake is too powerful for you, or if you want to look around in other games, we have more ideas for you.
- MeinMMO author Philipp Hansen baked a Destiny cake. However, his quest unfortunately failed despite a good description…
- MeinMMO author Eilyn Rapp, on the other hand, tried a Fortnite cake – complete with fancy decorations and llamas.
All these recipes are perfect for entertaining your friends, especially gamers who appreciate the closeness to their favorite games. If you’re looking for something unusual for the next party (after Corona), you have a wide selection here. The cakes and tortes are also great as an excuse, if you accidentally call the police on your neighbor.
